Sunday, 13 July 2014

Article - CTP receives major blow in local elections (Published in Greek in 24h on 6 July, 2014)

CTP receives major blow in local elections

Last Sunday’s municipal elections dealt a
huge blow to the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), the biggest pro-solution party
in the northern part of Cyprus, and the outcome is expected to have major
implications on April’s elections for the Turkish Cypriot leader. CTP, which
held the municipalities in the three biggest cities in the northern part of
Cyprus, lost all three.

A successful outcome in municipal elections
would have considerably strengthened CTP, and served as a strong indication of
people’s inclinations for the ‘presidential elections.’ CTP would have most
probably nominated former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, who has been
open about his willingness to run again, and would had a good chance of coming
out of the elections victorious.

However, to the amazement of many, CTP lost
the ‘flagship’ Nicosia Turkish Municipality, as well as the Kyrenia and
Famagusta Municipalities. The Kyrenia and Famagusta municipalities, which
belonged to CTP for more than 15 years, were lost to candidates backed by
hardliner Turkish Cypriot leader Derviş Eroğlu, and the right-wing National
Unity Party (UBP) and the Democratic Party (DP).

Challenging times lie ahead of CTP
officials not only because they will most probably be required to re-design
their plans for the April elections in this new political atmosphere, but also
because of the internal conflicts within the party. There are allegations that
long-standing disagreements among party officials and the municipal candidates
have grown into full-blown retaliation during the municipal elections and led
to CTP’s defeat. Some party members are being accused of openly or secretly
backing competing candidates. The party will also have to solve these internal
conflicts, which were used very efficiently by the right-wing parties to defeat
CTP, if it is to enter a healthy election period.

An important outcome of the local elections
is the rise of veteran politician Mustafa Akıncı as a strong potential
candidate for the ‘presidential elections’ after Social Democracy Party’s (TDP)
Mehmet Harmancı won the Nicosia Turkish Municipality with almost 40 per cent of
the votes. In the Turkish Cypriot political arena, a special importance has
always been placed on who wins the Nicosia Turkish Municipality, with many arguing,
often rightly so, that the Nicosia Turkish Municipality is a ‘flagship’
municipality and the party that wins it, has an advantage during the ensuing
elections for the Turkish Cypriot leader.

It will be interesting to watch the
developments in the run-up to the April elections.